I came to the same realization as your point A. Randy isn’t asking for 2017 money. The statement is absolutely ridiculous.

You’re 100% correct. The problem with the Willie Mays analogy is that Willie paved the way for guys in 2007 to get paid the way they are. However, he’s not still playing the game.

Randy paved the way and he is still in the game and one of the sport’s biggest stars.

The Mays analogy makes no sense because there wasn’t the type of money in baseball then that there is now and he isn’t still playing the game.

My opinion about health care differs a little when it comes to the UFC because of the nature of their business. Everyone should be given affordable health care, and like you said before, this is likely at odds of what the business’s interests are. But I think its a crime that some type of health care hasn’t been proposed already, when you put your bodies through the type of punishment that most of these guys do (practice and fights alike). The odds of a mma fighter needing medical attention in a given year is probably greater than the average population. In fact I can’t imagine going through a year of being a fighter and not needing to seek medical attention (numerous times).

So what I am saying is that I think if some pressure was put on Dana (and other promoters) by the media and fans, that it would shed light on a topic that is discussed very little (so forming a union is the best way to defend fighters rights, but not the only way). You have to remember that the UFC has one big difference than say wal-mart, in that it is privately owned. Trying to get health insurance (or better health insurance if you already have it) in a publicly traded company is much harder than in a privately held firm (traditionally, this is assuming a level playing field, meaning both private and public companies would have similar resources, as most of us know, most private companies don’t have the same resources as a large publicly held corp. but in the UFC’s case, they definitely have the resources to make health care and pensions possible). There are a number of reasons for this but mainly, like in the UFC’s case, its easier to get 3 guys to respond to public pressure than a public corporation. It is just absurd to think that fighters should have to purchase their own private insurance, when 90% (guess) of them are still not making enough money to make this a viable option.

Additionally, there are a lot of disputes over what sorts of things should be included as the revenues, libabilities, assets, and expenses of any franchise. Some would say that stadium revenues should be part of it, some would say that they are the revenues etc of a stand-alone stadium entity. Some would say that the revenues and expenses of minor league activities should be included, some would say that the revenues and expenses of things like NESN or other cable and internet program distribution systems owned by teams or leagues should be included. In reality, when there is a release of figures, you DON’T KNOW SHIT about the basic assumptions of what is and what isn’t consolidated into that number, and as a result the numbers are almost completely worthless as a basis of genuine discussion.

Which is why I have taken to saying that any calculations that I make on Zuffa are academic exercises. Because that’s what they are. They’re all napkin math that keeps us entertained, but we can’t rely on them.

It’s apples and oranges.

For example. The NFL’s TV deals guarantee them quite a bit of money that will not fluctuate at all over the course of years. It’s easy to offer your players union ‘x’ percentage when you know you will be getting a check for $2.7 billion dollars every single freaking year.

With the UFC, they are not so lucky. What the recent S&P reports, it clearly states that 75% of the UFC’s revenues are from ppv buys. So pretty much, Zuffa (right now) cannot be even decently sure what their total revenues will be year to year. They are dependent on a what could be called a fickle ppv buying audience. One show could do 300,000 buys….the next one 700,000 buys. That’s like a $10 million dollar swing!!!

With such an unstable and unpredictable revenue platform, it would be business suicide to start guaranteeing large contracts that would bring fighter total pay up into the 50% range or higher.

There’s nothing the UFC management can do that would satisfy me, with regards to fair treatment of fighters. That’s because the interests of the promotion and the interests of the fighters are not inherently identical.

The only way to defend fighters’ rights and interests is by forming a union and bargaining collectively. Everything else is hogwash.

I don’t understand this particular part of that column:

“But it’s the way of the world that the pioneers aren’t rewarded like their successors.

Willie Mays never made the kind of money that the stars in Major League Baseball are earning today, yet I haven’t seen a center fielder in the majors who comes close to being the player Mays was.

Randy Couture is the Willie Mays of MMA.

But Willie Mays never made the money that the many lesser players who followed him made. And 10 years from now, the money the fighters make will dwarf anything they’re making now. The problem in this mess is that Couture wants the 2017 money in 2007.

And as great as he is, Couture probably won’t be fighting when he’s almost 55.”

A) Couture is not asking for 2017 money in 2007. He’s asking for 2007 money in 2007.

B) The Willie Mays analogy makes it seem like it’s unreasonable or at the very least unrealistic for Randy Couture to expect to be compensated like “modern athletes.” But was Willie Mays the star in several of Major League Baseball’s highest-grossing events of all time? No. Was Willie Mays one of the biggest stars in several of Major League Baseball’s highest-grossing years of all time? No. That’s where I’m having difficulty understanding that particular analogy.